The present disclosure relates to a thermoplastic vulcanizate and a manufacturing method thereof More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a manufacturing method of a thermoplastic vulcanizate without an organic cross-linking agent, and the thermoplastic vulcanizate made therefrom.
Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) are polymeric compositions with a thermosetting elastomer dispersed in a thermoplastic matrix. Through this structure, comparing to conventional thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), thermoplastic vulcanizates have many superior characteristics such as compressibility, anti-permanent deformation, and so on. Thus, TPV can be applied in many different areas such as automobile industry, consumer electronics, wrapping materials and sealing components.
Traditional thermoplastic vulcanizates, such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)/polypropylene (PP), still have an undesirable balance between heat resistance and oil resistance. On the other hand, in the conventional manufacturing process of TPVs, in order to crosslink the dispersed elastomers in the matrix, an organic crosslinking agent is needed to conduct the crosslinking reaction. This procedure not only causes extra pollution of the environment, but it also raises the cost of production and back-end processes.
Consequently, although there has been various lines of research and products during the development of this area, defects or problems with manufacturing methods and products remain. Accordingly, improvements in TPVs are still desirable.